Billionaires Ken Griffin and Marc Rowan are relocating thousands of jobs out of New York City, citing Mayor Mamdani’s “tax the rich” agenda as the catalyst for what executives warn could be a larger Wall Street exodus.
Griffin told CNBC on Tuesday that a social media video Mamdani posted featuring his $238 million penthouse to promote a luxury second-home tax prompted him to expand Citadel’s Miami hub significantly. “We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision,” Griffin said, describing the video as “creepy.”
The hedge fund magnate had previously threatened to scrap a $6 billion Park Avenue development for Citadel if the tax proposal advanced.
Apollo Global Management, a $900 billion asset manager, is preparing to open a new hub in Florida or Texas with 1,000 employees—matching its New York headcount—amid concerns about Mamdani’s anti-business stance.
The threatened departures align with warnings from Gov. Hochul and other city leaders that aggressive taxation could trigger capital flight. A pro-business group, Partnership for New York City, estimates potential losses of 2,700 financial-sector jobs and $168 million in annual state and city tax revenue. Apollo paid roughly $1.28 billion in city and state taxes in 2025; Citadel executives say Griffin and firm principals paid $2.3 billion over five years.
Griffin’s move parallels his 2022 relocation of Citadel from Chicago to Miami over crime concerns and dissatisfaction with local leadership. “Looking at what Mamdani just did to me is triggering the trauma I went through in Chicago,” Griffin said.
When asked about the threat Wednesday, Mamdani said he wants “all New Yorkers to succeed” but defended his tax reform agenda, saying the system rewards “extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink.”
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3 Responses
No surprises with Mamdani. He wants all of us to prosper except those who create the very path of prosperity. I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t do the same to wealthy Arabs who have invested billions buying upscale residences in the city. I’ll guess, they aren’t Jewish!!!
This was a miserable public relations failure by the new administration. As was his failure to protect shuls. The rhetoric about the suffering New Yorker is damaging as well. Please spin positively Bernie.
A benefit of Mamdani chasing capitalists our of New York will be a drop in population (not just by rich people and corporations, but of all those who work for or sell things to the rich people and businesses). Lower population means cheaper housing (less demand), lower prices in general, and perhaps part of Brooklyn and Queens might be reconverted to farmland as was the case 150 years ago meaning a fall in the price of Halav Yisrael.